Noctisardor Bypass boy or man

@Mahler - experimental writing style; bear with me <3

She followed the river northwest until she came to two choices: the forest of the mountains. She explored the forest first, but finding no one, rested for the night and then took the day’s journey to the mountains. There, she smelled wolves. Finally. Stopping well back from a clear pack border, she lifted her head and howled. She would see who came. If they were younger than her and claimed to be the alpha, she would leave. If not, then she would go from there.

<3

it was a silent, somehow diminished man that came to answer the call.
she was golds and earth; she smelled of the places she had been and rain to come. the gargoyle lowered his peppered muzzle in a silent bow as he observed her respectful distance from his borders.
"this is rivenvood. i am mahler." he said nothing more, only waited for the wolf to state for what reason she stood now before him.

The one who came was older than her—a large, bulky male. This reassured her. She took in his scars and something within her settled, for now.

“Mahler. I am Ellora. I have traveled far and wish to join your ranks, if you will have me. Winter is coming. I can fight and hunt, and track the lay of the land. I offer you these skills in return for sanctuary. But I would know something of you and yours, first.” She stood and waited, proud but unassuming.

i will not be here for long.
the thought made it almost out of his mouth.
"ve are a quiet pack vith a single ally exactly north of us, in duskfire glacier. my mate and grown children reside here. these season's pups are not my own and yet they have been reared betveen all of us. ve cooperate."
he paused. "ve have lately begun farmvork and planting. it is something i vill teach you, if you vould like, ellora."

A quiet pack. Good. And pups to ensure future generations. Ellora cared not for pups herself—they irritated her with their endless noise and questions—but their existence was reassuring. An alliance with another pack was a boon, as well, though she hoped the extra numbers would not be needed. She carried no lust for war.

“I do not know the word farmwork,” she said. “But I know planting. Healers in my previous pack had little patches of medicinal herbs. I do not know the healing arts, or even if this is what you mean, but I will learn what I can if it means I can stay. I wish only for peace and stability. Is this agreeable?” She paused, thinking this had been too easy. “I will tell you more of myself if you wish it, though I have no urge to speak of the past.”

ellora was direct. pragmatic. mahler appreciated that in her.
he wondered if she might count the death of her leader as untenable.
he was not sure he had made his peace with it, try as he might.
"i intend to replant grasses the deer prefer inside rivenvood. i think it will draw them even after the snow, if they know rich food is to be found. it lessens the land ve must travel during the vinter, if ve can hunt them here."
"peace is agreeable. and i have kept rivenvood peaceful. i ask only that you vork to keep our caches full and defend the children. the glacier is home to many healers. i am vone myself. ve are equipped to deal vith conflict but i do not seek it."
mahler stepped back and inclined his head, inviting her formally across the borders.

Ellora tilted her head just a little at this strange plan to plant grasses to attract prey. It was smart, but nothing she had heard of before. “If it works, I will be impressed,” she said.

At his command that she only need fill their caches and defend their children, she nodded her head once. “I accept these duties. And I am glad to join a peaceful pack.”

When he stepped back and bowed her into the territory, she lowered her own head in return and quietly stepped through the border. Promptly, she squatted and urinated, joining her scent to those already here. Then she found a patch of grass that smelled of another member and rolled in it. Now she was one of them, and they would know it.

[Fade if you want?]